


A Thousand Light-Years

by Chibiobiwan



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Party Like It's 1999, Passengers AU, Suicidal Thoughts, fear of being alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 08:56:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18891331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chibiobiwan/pseuds/Chibiobiwan
Summary: Obi-Wan wakes up from Cryostasis 77 years too early. Alone, he tries to find hope to stay alive.





	A Thousand Light-Years

**Author's Note:**

> It’s the miracle one-shot for the 20th Anniversary of Phantom Menace! Haha, but seriously I finished this last minute so I hope you enjoy! Thanks a ton for reading ^.^

 

 

Obi-Wan wasn’t supposed to be on the Starship Avalon.

He wasn’t supposed to wake up before anyone else either.

But somehow he had.

The moment he woke up the ship’s automatic protocols kicked in and the mechanical voice of the computer reminding him where he was and reassuring him that his vital signs were on track. Dazed, he was taken to his cabin to recover until the Orientation meeting. It was strange, sleeping in a bed after being virtually comatose, but when he woke up again, he felt ready to face the other passengers and start his new life, despite his original reluctance.

Obi-Wan didn’t suspect anything until he was the first one in the Orientation meeting room. Until the automatic presentation started with no one but him in the dozens of chairs.

Obi-Wan stared around blankly at the empty room as the presentation began, describing Earth’s new colony of Raxus, a temperate planet with vast oceans and landmasses that were enveloped by forests, plains, and mountains. Perfect for a fresh start.

Obi-Wan scoffed since he was the only one in the room. The only thing it would be perfect for was the resources it would bring back to Earth, Obi-Wan thought cynically.

“Computer, where is everyone?” Obi-Wan finally spoke up, interrupting the presentation.

The computer hologram paused before answering, “We are on the Starship Avalon.”

“No, why am I alone.” Obi-Wan corrected.

“You are not alone,” A slight hitch as the computer’s codes ran, “Obi-Wan Kenobi. There are 5000 passengers, and 256 crew members.”

Obi-Wan shook his head in annoyance, “No one else in my orientation group is here.”

The computer system glitched, the hologram flickering, “Orientation group 201’s protocol has been initiated. All awake members are present.”

“What?” He croaked out disbelieving as his stomach sank to the floor.

“All awake orientation group 201 members are present and accounted for. You are not alone.”

Obi-Wan felt sick. He quickly stood up, clearly there was some sort of misunderstanding- he must have been assigned the wrong orientation group and been put in one by himself. Quickly, he exited the room with the hologram behind him reminding him that the presentation wasn’t over.

He tried to stay calm as he walked quickly through the halls, unable to avoid the sense of utter emptiness. He just needed to find someone- anyone. The hallway opened up into the central hull, the common space for training, entertainment, and social gatherings.

There was no one there but him.

It was like no one had ever been there.

Obi-Wan shuddered and accessed a computer terminal. He was just scaring himself.

It took only a few seconds to locate and another five minutes to walk to find the ship’s Stewart Office. Just like the rest of the ship, it was empty.

There had to be someone. Anyone.

Obi-Wan returned to a computer terminal and tried again. There had to be a crew member somewhere. Obi-Wan initiated an Emergency Protocol, he was fine with getting yelled at if someone would finally show up. The screen flashed red, as the computer signaled the alert. Distantly Obi-Wan could hear the computer asking for crew member assistance in location 6600. He just had to wait.

Obi-Wan didn’t know why his heart was beating so fast. Everything was fine. Everything _had_ to be fine. He sat down on the ground next to the computer terminal. Someone was coming. He just had to wait.

No one came.

Obi-Wan lost track of how much time he sat waiting for someone to come before he gathered himself together. As much as he wanted this all to be a nightmare, he was wide awake, and he needed to figure out what the hell was going on.

If the crew wouldn’t come to him, he would go to them.

Quickly he canceled the emergency request and managed to pull up a map of how to get to the bridge and crew quarters. He ran, it wasn’t like there was anyone there to see him panic.

He made it there, out of breath, but didn’t pause before he swiped his wristband to open the door.

Nothing happened.

The door remained closed.

Obi-Wan banged on the door, trying to get someone’s attention. Calling out.

No one answered.

He slid to his knees, letting his head rest on the metal door. No one was awake. Something had gone wrong. The question was, what.

Obi-Wan thought through the possibilities, realizing that there were really only two true options, either everyone else hadn’t woken up when they were supposed to or, Obi-Wan had woken up early. Neither boded well for him.

Obi-Wan made his way back to a computer terminal where he accessed the voyage’s metrics, the map of where they were in the galaxy. Passengers could see second by second, how fast they were going, what stars systems they passed, and how long until they arrived at their new home.

77 years.

Obi-Wan stopped breathing. They had only been traveling for 53 out of 130 years. They weren’t even halfway to Raxus. He rechecked the metrics- the day, their distance, the ships speed. Everything pointed to the same answer.

He had woken up too early.

He was only 24 years old now.

If he didn’t find a way to go back into cryostasis, he’d be 101 by the time everyone else started waking up.

He had to get back to sleep.

Obi-Wan did his best to ignore the empty halls as he made his way back to the cryogenic pods. He had been out of it when the automatic system moved him out, but he managed to retrace his steps. Luckily the security that had prevented him from getting on the bridge was nonexistent here. There was no need to protect the pods from passengers who would all wake around the same time.

The massive room lit up slowly, the dim glow of the pods creating most of the light. Obi-Wan found his pod easily. It had been left open, and appeared to be waiting for him to climb back inside. Relieved, Obi-Wan did just that, and pulled the door shut.

Nothing happened.

Of course. Before, the system had been initiated by a doctor using the control panel on the outside. Obi-Wan’s hands shook when the pod didn’t open back up immediately. When it finally cracked open, he practically fell out of the pod in his hurry to get out. He stayed on the floor for a moment breathing unevenly. He didn’t like the idea of being trapped there permanently.

Disturbed, but not willing to give up yet, he began to study the pod’s controls. He wouldn’t be able to operate them from inside the pod, but it was possible he might be able to rig something up. There were droids on board that he had walked past during his explorations, he could probably make it work. If he knew exactly how to program the droid.

Obi-Wan left the expansive room. He knew what the problem was, he needed to calm down and look at it rationally. He had time. He had all the time in the world.

_______

 

Obi-Wan retreated to his cabin to think through his options. There was a computer terminal there that he could use for research to formulate a plan.

There were three options that he could surmise. He could try to wake up a crew member to fix the situation. Technically the easiest solution, but if Obi-Wan woke someone and they couldn’t go back into stasis, he would essentially become a murderer. He wasn’t willing to take that risk until he was sure it was possible.

The second option was to try and rig his pod to return him to a state of stasis, this was likely the most dangerous. He may have experience with computer programing and engineering, but that didn’t mean he knew the first thing about cryostasis. He would be starting from scratch and there was a good chance he would miss something by virtue of not knowing just how much he didn’t know.

The last option was medical bay. There was a chance, a good chance, that the medical pods could initiate cryostasis. It was by far the most likely and safest option available to him- so of course it was a dead end.

He was able to bypass the medical bay’s security by telling the computer it was an emergency, but his hopes were dashed when he actually had a good look at the medical pod. It could only be programed with minor first aid sequences. The very most he could induce was a healing coma- one that would only last a few weeks and would hardly stop him from aging.

He would die in his sleep at least.

Obi-Wan shuddered and stepped away from the pod. The Avalon was carrying everything a new colony would need to get started, perhaps there was a more advanced medical pod in storage. It was a long shot- figuring out how to power the pod for the next 77 years would likely be almost as complicated as rigging his old pod. He still checked the ships inventory, but he was wrong, there were medical pods, but they were the same model or older.

Obi-Wan debated his next move, the ship was taking its 5,000 passengers to Raxus, but after a year would return to earth with precious metals and sorely needed resources. That meant that the crew would be going back with it, which also meant that they would have a way to go back into cryostasis. He might finally be able talk to someone.

Obi-Wan couldn’t help but feel he was grasping at straws.

____

The crew’s pods were in the command ring- a portion of the ship restricted to the crew only. He would need to break in and hacking the system took time. The data security got significantly worse as Obi-Wan tried to work around the system. Finally he managed to edit his security band clearance to a low level crew member. It wouldn’t give him control of the ship by any means, but the important thing was access anyway.

It had been three weeks since he’d been anywhere new on the ship, and he hesitated at the threshold of the command ring. He was well aware that if he just woke up a crew member he wouldn’t be alone anymore.

He wouldn’t be alone anymore.

Obi-Wan ran away, afraid of what he was capable of.

He wouldn’t do anything until he was certain that it’d be okay. He wouldn’t.

___

 

The next day he returned, and waved his band in front of the reader. Once again, the door swished open and lights flickered on down the hall, one after another.

He was just checking.

Obi-Wan past the door to the bridge, it was unlikely his security clearance would allow him to enter anyway and approached the crew hibernation quarters. With a deep breath he held out his band to trigger the door. Is slid open with a quiet swish and he entered.

The crew’s quarters were as dimly lit as the passenger’s, but Obi-Wan was able to see each of the crew members resting peacefully in their pods. He stared at them, heart racing, he hadn’t gone back to where the passenger’s pods were since that first day. They were so close. They had a future.

Obi-Wan tore his gaze away and regained his focus. He walked through the quarters searching for anything that might help.

There was no extra pod.

Alright. That left only one question unanswered.

Could he wake up someone to help him?

Obi-Wan had tried his best to prepare for this moment, reading what little information there was on the cryostasis pods. The ship’s designers had clearly never anticipated failure- the passenger pods were only made for one use. If he had tried to force his old pod to work, the most he would have been able to trigger was a light coma, but more likely he would have suffocated to death.

Obi-Wan studied the nearest pod. There were controls on the interior, which meant the pods were meant for re-use. He probably could wake up a crew member. They might even be able to help him and he wouldn’t be a murderer because they would be able to go back to sleep.

Even if he couldn’t as well.

He stared at the peaceful face in front of him, imagining it. The man would open his eyes, confused but curious, eventually though doubt would filter in, and then the unavoidable pity

Obi-Wan turned and walked away.

He’d figure this out himself.

If the designers hadn’t anticipated pod failure, it was unlikely that the crew would be prepared for it either.

Obi-Wan didn’t think he could bear not being alone, only to be plunged back into the devastating solitude.

He stumbled out of the crew quarters, struggling to breath. It had been his last hope, he was going to die.

No.

No.

He was going to live the rest of his life alone. And then he was going to die.

Alone.

Obi-Wan crumbled to the floor and sobbed.

____

 

Obi-Wan woke up, aching from where he had been twisted on the floor and stared off into the distance, sightlessly.

He wondered if his uncle had done this on purpose. Not only had Dooku exiled him from earth, but also made sure to kill him the slowest, loneliest way possible.

Anger got Obi-Wan back to his feet. If that was Dooku’s plan, then Obi-Wan wouldn’t let him win. He would do something with his life at least- even if it wouldn’t matter until after he was already dead.

Obi-Wan didn’t know exactly what he wanted to do. It simultaneously felt as though he had eons of time ahead of him and as though his death was imminent. There was dozens, no hundreds, of training programs on the ship for the passengers to use for their new lives. There would be nothing for him at the end of this journey, but he could still make a difference. His life didn’t have to be over yet.

He began to write down his day to day activities, making goals for himself and trying to stay on track. For months, journal keeping and forcing himself to stick to a schedule kept him going. Day after day, Obi-Wan exercised, ate food in the cafeteria and worked on projects that he had daydreamed about but never had time for. He studied astrophysics, meteorology, and even botany. Everything he learned he wrote down and formulated for Raxus. Hoping it would help the colonists in the long run. He even began tinkering with some of the nonessential droids on the ship to try and improve them. And finally, at the end of the day he would sometimes take a break to watch one of the ship’s enormous store of movies. It was hard to tell if he felt more or less lonely afterward.

But eventually, Obi-Wan got tired.

The food was bland, eating the same things over and over again. He had no one to practice languages with and he began to lose interest in his various projects. Nothing changed. What was the point?

He started sleeping more and more, until one day he didn’t get out of bed at all.

Eventually, thirst forced him from his bed, and then the sight of himself in the mirror pushed him out of the room entirely. He needed a new way to distract himself.

He went down to where the passenger pods were kept.

It was a bit morbid, like walking through a graveyard, but instead of everyone else being dead it was him. Pod after pod of people who would live on well after he died. Except-

Obi-Wan double took as he saw a dark pod surrounded by the dim glow of the others. That wasn’t his pod. Slowly he approached, knowing in the back of his mind that something was horribly wrong.

Within the pod wasn’t the pristine figure of a man or woman sleeping, but a rotting corpse.

Obi-Wan stumbled away, sick to his stomach. The window in the pod door revealed grotesquely what had happened to the woman inside. Like him, her pod had stopped working, but for whatever reason she had never woken up.

Horrified, Obi-Wan ran from the chamber. There was nothing he could do for her now, but the memory haunted him. That could have been him. Would it have been better to die in his sleep? How many of the pods had failed?

That thought stopped him in his tracks. The pods weren’t supposed to be able to fail. But his had. That could have been the exception that made the rule, but now a second pod had. A third would make a pattern.

Despite his reluctance to return, he forced himself to turn back  and take an account of all the pods on the ship. There were 5,000 passenger pods on board and checking all of them took him days but in the end he had his answer. Three other pods had failed. Five, including his own.

There was something wrong with the ship.

All the pods were connected to the same life support system, even if they were spread throughout different quadrants of the massive ship. Something had, at some point, gone awry, cutting off power to the system that had then gone over to backup power. Only, the backup power hadn’t been enough for all the pods. Obi-Wan had been astonishingly lucky that his pod managed to go into reanimation mode before completely shutting down. The question was- had it been one incident that caused the pods to lose power or was it an ongoing failure?

The medical science behind the cryostasis pods was beyond him. Despite being able to access the system’s hard data, the information it provided meant very little to him. From what he could understand, t nearly a year ago there had been a massive power drain on the system, and since then, there had been two additional outages that had triggered the backup systems, which were getting progressively weaker.

Obi-Wan threw himself into learning everything he could about the system and the diagnostics necessary to discover potential errors caused by the outages. Over the course of a month, he found over a hundred pods with failing systems. He was able to figure out what components were damaged by comparing dead units to the correct schematics. Fortunately, for most of the pods, the repair was simple and only involved the power coupler, which Obi-Wan could replace from parts in storage.

The dim light of having a purpose again kept him going throughout it all. At least some good would come of the fate he had resigned himself to.

Then another pod went dark.

The only sign something had gone wrong was the brief flicker of the lights in the Mess Hall, where Obi-Wan had been eating. He froze, recognizing yet another outage. They were happening more often. He dropped his spoon and ran out the door, immediately checking the system diagnostics that he had been running. There- quadrant 5.

Obi-Wan ran through the pods, looking for the telltale signs of failure. If he could get there in time maybe he could wake them up. A selfish part of him felt hope rise. He wouldn’t be alone if he could just find them.

He found the pod too late.

It was on the opposite side of the room than he had started on.

He stared at the man inside who looked as though he was still frozen in time.

He was dead.

Obi-Wan collapsed. He could have stopped this. He should have been able to stop this. His only purpose left was to keep everyone else alive and he had failed. Why was he even here?!

Twenty more pods had errors that would have eventually led to failure. Obi-Wan wondered how long his supply of power couplers would last. He checked the backup power system. It wasn’t replenishing at all. How many more would die?

Obi-Wan couldn’t do this on his own.

Afraid of what he was going to do, almost hating himself, Obi-Wan showered and shaved, procrastinating the inevitable. He was going to wake up the crew.

No, just one of the crew. They would know what to do and if others were needed. And at the end of it all, if they succeeded, anyone Obi-Wan woke up wouldn’t die for it. The crew could just go back to sleep- and leave him. He’d be the only one.

____

 

Obi-Wan stared at the crews pods. There was a part of him that had dreamed about this, a part of him who had had nightmares over it. He could have woken any of them up at any time in the last eleven months, but he hadn’t.

He hadn’t trusted himself.

He had been alone for so long, he wanted, no needed, someone else so badly.

If they wanted to leave him, would he have been able to let them go?

Would he have been able to face the temptation of the chance of survival?

He hadn’t known the answers, so he had avoided the crew quarters but now he would have to face it after all.

Obi-Wan struggled to choose who to wake up. On the off chance something went horribly wrong, he didn’t want to be responsible for killing the Avalon’s best chance for survival. But at the same time, he couldn’t take the chance that they wouldn’t know what to do.

People were going to die if he didn’t do this.

People might die even if he did do this.

In the end, he chose the First Officer, Qui-Gon Jinn. The man would have the same authority on the ship as the captain, and hopefully know what to do.

Obi-Wan stared at the man through the pod’s window. He looked intimidatingly grimm in cryosleep. Perhaps Obi-Wan would manage not to get too attached.

Obi-Wan knew he was fooling himself.

He entered the sequence to begin reanimation.

It was startling to see the machine bring life back to the man inside, air filling the man’s lungs for the first time in years. Finally, blue eyes opened and looked into the distance unfocused.

Obi-Wan’s breath caught, he didn’t know if he could do this. He backed away as the pod’s computer began to inform the first officer where he was and what was happening.

Obi-Wan slipped from the room and slid to the ground, hiding his face in his arms. Why was he so damned afraid?

It felt like forever before the door swished open for the second time. Obi-Wan flinched badly.

Obi-Wan heard the First Officer’s footsteps stop suddenly, “Hello?”

He reluctantly raised his eyes up. He hadn’t realized that Jinn would be so tall. Or maybe it was because he was on the floor. Swallowing thickly he spoke aloud for the first time in months, “Hi.”

The man’s brow was creased as he stared down at Obi-Wan, “Are you a passenger? Why are you in this section of the ship?” The man cast a glance around as though looking for any others, though Obi-Wan guessed that he had probably already noticed his fellow crew members were still asleep.

“I-” Obi-Wan’s voice cracked and he swallowed again before continuing and stumbling to his feet. Jinn still loomed over him, definitely tall. “I am- I, I woke you up.” He confessed hurriedly, wanting the man to understand what he had done. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know what else to do-”

The first officer held up his hand reassuringly, “It’s alright. Passenger’s aren’t meant to wake up for another month after the crew. Your pod must have activated early.”

Obi-Wan’s stomach sank. The man was clearly trying to figure out what had happened while reassuring Obi-Wan. But he didn’t understand.

“No- I mean yes, my pod did activate early- but it’s been almost a year since then.” He tried his best to explain.

Doubt crept onto the man’s face. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

“I know, but something on the ship is malfunctioning. It’s only been 78 years since take off and pods have been shutting down-”

“Are you sure?” The first officer asked alarmed, “How many others are awake?”

Obi-Wan stared at Jinn blankly. “None, just me. It just been me the whole time.” He looked down unwilling to see Jinn’s reaction when he told him, “The other pods failed without reanimating.”

Silence reigned between them.

“How many?” The man’s voice was gruff and to the point. Obi-Wan flinched, feeling blame that wasn’t meant to be there.

“Six.” His voice wobbled as he shrunk further into himself.

Obi-Wan startled when gentle hands reached out to hold him. “What-” Instead of the anger he had been expecting, only kindness looked back at him.

“It’s alright.” The man’s low voice reassured. “We’ll figure this out. Together. Okay?”

Obi-Wan searched Jinn’s eyes not sure what to make of it all. “Right, okay.”

“Good.” The man gave Obi-Wan a reassuring smile for a brief second before glancing down the hall. “First things, first. We need to get to the bridge and run a full diagnostic. The cryogenic pods are made to never fail, which means there is something seriously wrong with the ship.”

The tall man started walking before stopping and looking back at Obi-Wan who stood where he was. “Are you coming?”

The look of anxiousness on Obi-Wan’s face faded with relief. “Yes, thanks.” He didn’t want to be alone, even if he had no idea how to act around someone else anymore.

They walked quickly to the bridge with Obi-Wan trailing a step behind. It was so strange to see someone breathing, to have someone so near.

Obi-Wan stumbled into Jinn when he stopped at the door.

The man gave him a side glance, “ Are you alright?”

Obi-Wan’s blush burned, “Yes.” A kind small smile twitched on Jinn’s lips before disappearing. Quickly the man swiped his wristband for access and the bridge door opened.

Obi-Wan had only been here once and that had been for an inventory check.

Jinn started up full diagnostics on the entire ship. “This will take some time I’m afraid- the system has shut down to bare basics.” Jinn said with a frown.

“There was some sort of outage that has forced the pods repeatedly onto backup system. It’s gotten progressively drained to the point that it can’t support all the pods…” Obi-wan trailed off uncertainly.

Jinn listened attentively while turning the problem over in his head, “Something that big is going to involve the reactor.” At a second terminal he began putting in commands until the screen began showing numerous blips, increasing over time. Jinn let out a hissing breath. “This shows the outages in the last five years. Whatever happened was almost a year ago- right here.” He pointed to the first data point on the screen.

“That was right before I woke up.” Obi-Wan stared at the screen while Jinn studied him.

Obi-Wan jumped when Jinn reached out to gently grasp his arm. “I know the last year has been hard for you, but you need to know that you may have saved us all.”

Obi-Wan gave him a broken smile, “If you can fix whatever it is.”

Jinn returned it, “We will. The ship’s diagnostic may take too long, but we can go directly to the source. Come on.”

Obi-Wan nodded and followed behind the man as he led the way across the ship. Jinn glanced to right right and slightly behind him, “What is your name?”

Obi-Wan startled and blushed, realizing he hadn’t told the man earlier, “Obi-Wan Kenobi.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Obi-Wan. Do you already know my name?”

Obi-Wan nodded hastily as they rounded a corner. He didn’t really want to admit how much he had poured over the man’s file before waking him.

“Good,” Jinn said with a smile. “You can call me Qui-Gon if you would like.”

“Oh um,” Obi-Wan stumbled over his words, “It’s nice to meet you Qui-Gon.” Those words had never been so true in Obi-Wan’s entire life.

“The feeling is mutual.” Qui-Gon said, life animating kindness in the man’s face that had been so vacant before. So much for not getting attached.

Obi-Wan struggled for something to say, he had a dozen questions that he didn’t want to hear the answer to.

“Tell me about yourself.”

Obi-Wan startled badly, too caught up in his own head and not used to having to pay attention to anyone but holograms. “I… what?” His confusion showed visibly.

“You’re clearly intelligent, you managed to hack into the Avalon’s security system to get into the crew quarters and figure out what was wrong with the stasis pods. Are there any other skills you have up your sleeve?” Qui-Gon asked patiently.

“Oh- um yes. I went to school for engineering.”

“Good that may come in handy. What made you decide to go to Raxus?”

Obi-Wan flinched.

“I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to be insensitive.” Qui-Gon gently touched his arm, “I thought it might help to focus on something different.”

“That’s okay. I didn’t actually want to go. My great uncle forced me to.”

Qui-Gon’s brows furrowed, “Why in the world would he do that?”

Obi-Wan looked away as he spoke, “My family has been involved with the Homestead Project since the beginning. I was looking through files that I shouldn’t have had any access to and found out that he’s been manipulating the data on earth-like planets to be more attractive to potential colonists. Raxus is likely far more dangerous than what anyone was told. I was going to release the information, but he found out before I could. I thought- I thought that he couldn’t bring himself to kill me so he did the next best thing. Even if I started back immediately over 260 years will have passed on earth. It wouldn’t matter anymore- it already doesn’t.”

Qui-Gon studied Obi-Wan as they walked, “You tried to do the right thing, but in my experience it’s not something that hasn’t been done before.”

Obi-Wan looked up sharply, “What do you mean?”

“This isn’t the first intergalactic trip I’ve taken. If you are related to the Kenobi that started this whole expedition, I might have even known him. Back than, we were Earth’s last hope.” Qui-Gon looked off into the distance. “Time doesn’t really pass for the crews of these ships. We left Earth 200 years ago for the first colony- Kiros. Stayed a year to help the colonists get settled before going back to Earth. We didn’t know if anyone would be left.”

Obi-Wan stared wide-eyed. He had learned about the first Homestead ships as a child, but he hadn’t realized the crew of Avalon were the original pioneers of the program.

“Turns out, humanity managed to survive even without the resources we brought back with us.” Qui-Gon glanced at him with a wry look, “But we managed to make things better for people on the ground who couldn’t afford the trip to a new world all the same. That made it worth it.” Qui-Gon trailed off before starting again, “I think I’ve met your Uncle Dooku, what he did was wrong, but starting on a new planet was never going to be easy and I think every passenger on this ship knows that.”

Obi-Wan’s brows furrowed, “You don’t understand, the environment is technically livable, but the weather goes through extreme patterns. He hid the data so he could keep sending out ships, getting wealthy on the backs of people who just wanted a new life.”

Qui-Gon was silent for a moment, “What’s done is done. We’ll figure it out when we get there.”

Obi-Wan felt cold, the rest of them would have to.

They turned down a smaller passage and through multiple security doors before reaching a final door with a large warning sign. Qui-Gon tapped his wrist to gain access to the control room.

“What the hell happened?” Qui-Gon asked, horrified as they took in the damage to the reactor room.

Obi-Wan stared wide-eyed through the shielding that seperated the control room from the reactor chamber. “It looks as though a bomb went off.” Holes covered in worn plastisteel were scattered through the outer body of the hull. Could Dooku really have wanted him dead enough to destroy an entire starship? All the harm Obi-Wan could possibly do against him now was his legacy- maybe that was worth it to the man.

Qui-Gon shook his head. “As bad as this is, there would likely be more damage. The ship’s autopilot has been able to initiate temporary repairs, but it's no wonder they keep failing and causing the outages. We are very lucky that you noticed when you did, these repairs are going to start failing one by one and everytime the system will have to reboot.” Qui-Gon’s voice was low and grim.

“And since the reactor isn’t even close to running at full capacity, it’s not able to recharge the backup systems. The whole thing would eventually fail.” Obi-Wan finished.

Qui-Gon nodded, eyes stuck on the reactor core. “We need to fix this. Now. The system is getting deteriorating with every second this keeps up. It’s a miracle the whole thing hasn’t collapsed already.”

He turned to Obi-Wan, eyes serious. “I need to go outside the ship, I should be able to reinforce what the repair droids have done and give us a bit more time. I know its a lot to ask, but I need you to direct me from this control room.” It took Qui-Gon only a few moments to bring up the full schematics of the damage, revealing the  largest break in the hold on the far side of the reactor, invisible from where they were standing.

Plastisteel was never going to last, Obi-Wan thought.

Qui-Gon took a deep breath before tearing his eyes away from the screen and focusing on Obi-Wan. “It’ll be okay, Obi-Wan.” Qui-Gon’s squeezed Obi-Wan’s arms in a distant approximation of a hug. It was the most physical contact Obi-Wan had felt in a year. “You can do this.” Obi-Wan couldn’t tell if he was saying that to himself or him.

Obi-Wan nodded, eyes resolved, “We can.” He tried his best to reassure Qui-Gon. There were two of them now. They _could_ do this.

The smile Qui-Gon gave him was strange, but still kind. “I’m going to suit up and try to figure out what breaches are most likely to fail, and I’ll start with those. Here-” Qui-Gon handed him a headset. “I’ll talk to you through this. If- if anything happens, wake up the Captain, Mace Windu. He’ll know what to do.”

Obi-Wan’s hands clenched. “Nothing will happen.” It was a statement not a question. He wasn’t going to be responsible for Qui-Gon’s death. He hadn’t woken up the man only to die.

“No, of course not.” The words felt stale in the air.

Qui-Gon didn’t believe a word of what he was saying. Obi-Wan wanted to stop him from leaving the room, offer to take his place instead, but he had almost no experience with repair of this kind, and they _had_ to do this.

“Okay. Let’s do this.” Obi-Wan turned to the controls, running diagnostics on the hull to get more in depth detail than the basic schematics that the autopilot had previously generated.

“You’re a good man, Obi-Wan.” Qui-Gon said as he left through a side door.

After a few minutes, Qui-Gon’s voice came over the headset, “I’m suited up. I’m going to turn on the video feed. You should be able to access it on that terminal and compare the external damage to the damage the sensors are reading.

Obi-Wan quickly typed into the terminal, “Alright, I got it.” The video feed was from Qui-Gon’s helmet, showing Obi-Wan everything that the other man could see. Qui-Gon put in the code to open the exterior hatch and with a swish, the light of a thousand stars twinkled across the screen.

Never had something so beautiful been so terrifying.

Qui-Gon clearly had done this before and he wasted no time taking in the beauty of space before he began making his way to the reactor hull. Several droids carrying repair materials followed him out with careful spurts of power.

Within moments, the extent of the damage to Avalon was clear.

“Damn.” Qui-Gon breathed out. The shielding that protected the Avalon had come up against a force too great and scarring traced its outer hull. Black burns could still be seen where the autopilot had sent repair, and despite it being the worst around the reactor hull, the whole ship had been affected.

If anyone had been awake, there would have been hundreds of casualties. The ship would have been unable to make repairs fast enough to the damaged hull, resulting in a complete environmental disaster.

Obi-Wan shuddered, they had all come much closer to death then he had realized. Luckily, the plastisteel was holding more than well enough in the other areas of the ship, its tolerance level only being tested by the extreme pressures of the reactor. They just needed to repair the damage on the reactor hull. They could do this.

“It must have been some kind of meteor field.” Qui-Gon muttered, as he made his way closer to the reactor hull. “Where do I need to start, Obi-Wan?”

Hearing his name shook Obi-Wan out of his thoughts, “Section 27.1683 is in the worst shape.” Obi-Wan continued to direct Qui-Gon from the most urgent deterioration to the next. Working in concert with the droids who obeyed mindlessly Qui-Gon, spraying the plastisteel before beginning the setting procedures.

“We’ll need to reinforce these-” Qui-Gon muttered softly. “But this should hold for another month or so to give us the chance to do more permanent repairs.”

Finally they came to the worst breach and Qui-Gon’s video feed stared at it soundlessly for a moment before he started the same procedure as all the others. But it wouldn’t be enough. It was clear that the autopilot had tried sending out droids multiple times before, repairing and re-repairing the crater in the hold, but the available materials just weren’t enough.

“The hold needs more reinforcement then that-” Obi-Wan stated the obvious between them. “There’s durasteel on board-”

“Durasteel has to be shaped and molded, we don’t have the time.” Qui-Gon interrupted, stress leaking into his words.

“We have to do something-” Obi-Wan said, his mind racing as he tried to think through the problem. If they could shut down the reactor then they could use the plastisteel within to reinforce the exterior. It wouldn’t last forever, but long enough to create a durasteel replacement.

Only the couldn’t. Shutting off the power for too long would drain the backup power systems and one by one the pods would fail. They would save the ship and kill everyone on board.

The only other possibility was to-

“Obi-Wan, I need you to wake up the Captain.”

What. Why?

“I need you to tell him everything you told me, about the pods, the reactor, everything.”

“What they hell are you doing, Qui-Gon.” Obi-Wan asked his voice shaking.

“The only way to repair this is to seal the breach with Phrik.”

“Phrik is only malleable under high doses of radiation, the droids systems won’t handle it and your suit won’t protect you.” They both already knew this. They both knew what Qui-Gon planned to do.

“I can take it long enough to do what I need to.” Qui-Gon’s voice was low and soft. “I’m sorry, Obi-Wan.” He finished setting the plastisteel- it would work as a perfect primer for the Phrik to lay on top of.

“No, Qui-Gon, we can find another way.” There had to be another way.

“Not this time.” Qui-Gon started on his way back to the hatch where the Phrik was no doubt waiting.

Obi-Wan’s thoughts jumped from one possibility to another, each a dead end. He couldn’t let this happen. He stared at the controls in front of him before making his decision.

He locked the exterior hatch.

“Obi-Wan? Obi-Wan, what are you doing?” Qui-Gon’s voice demanded in his ear. He had gotten to the exterior hatch.

“It’s okay, I have a plan.” Obi-Wan said breathlessly even as he rerouted power throughout the ship to the depleted backup system.

“Obi-Wan, unlock the hatch.” Qui-Gon ordered. “I know you’re scared and don’t want to be alone, but I have to do this.”

There were systems that had been turned on when Obi-Wan woke up. Automatic protocols that started the moment as soon as lifeforms were sensed. He turned them off one by one, there was no one on the ship that needed life support but him, and he could trigger them to come back on once the reactor was back online.

“Obi-Wan, listen to me!”

“No.” Obi-Wan answered shortly, despite his flinch. “I’m not going to let you sacrifice yourself if you don’t have to.”

“It’s the only way-”

“No its not. The ship has more than enough power for the pods if I reroute everything to the backup system. Everything will need to be reset afterwards, but I can do this.” He didn’t pause even once as he heard the life support systems shudder to a stop.

“You’re shutting down essential systems to allow the reactor to recharge the backup systems.” Qui-Gon said lowly in realization. “It’ll take too long. Obi-Wan, I know you want to help, but the system was too depleted, you’ll end up killing yourself before you can repair the reactor from the inside.”

“Not before hand,” Obi-Wan countered, “It’s just me in here, I’ll be able to get in and seal the breach as soon as I turn off the reactor.” He just had to wait a few more minutes for the backup system to be ready to take over. Just a few more.

“The Avalon was made to automatically funnel air to essential portions of the ship if life support systems ever went down.” Qui-Gon spoke quickly, “The reactor room isn’t considered a essential part of the ship for life support. You need to turn it back on.”

“And let you sacrifice yourself instead?” Obi-Wan shot back, unwilling to diverge from his course. “This will work, Qui-Gon. It’s okay, I’ve programmed the computer to restart the reactor one way or another once the backup system gets too low.”

“You shouldn’t have to do this.” Qui-Gon growled.

“I’ve been dead since I woke up.” Obi-Wan replied, “You don’t have to be.” He felt light headed, Qui-Gon was right, the air was already getting thin.

The backup system hit capacity. Obi-Wan shut down the reactor.

Qui-Gon swore over the headset and Obi-Wan walked into the the reactor chamber with all the supplies he would need.

He got to work quickly, copying Qui-Gon’s actions from earlier. The spray coated the worn out repair, there would be time for everyone else now. Obi-Wan stumbled badly as he started the setting procedures. He just had to keep going for a little bit longer.

There was a strange noise on the other side of the headset. “How are you doing, Obi-Wan?”

It took Obi-Wan a few seconds to process the words, “Oh, um, okay- almost done.” His lungs hurt, probably wasn’t a good idea to talk.

Obi-Wan clicked the Magnicontrol against the plastisteel and watched to go from a dull gray to sharp silver. He had done it. He sank to his knees.

“Obi-Wan?” Qui-Gon was breathing heavily.

“Done.” He said softly. He stared blankly ahead of him. How long before the reactor would turn back on. He turned and slumped against the wall so he could see it.  If it turned on soon enough, he might burn alive before he suffocated.

The door to the control room swished open revealing Qui-Gon in full space gear.

Obi-Wan knew hallucinations were something that happened when the brain became too deprived on oxygen, but he would have prefered Qui-Gon in something else.

Qui-Gon pushed something onto his face, before grabbing him in both arms. Obi-Wan couldn’t help but think it was a bit indignant to die being carried bridal style. He felt himself being laid down on the cold metal of the control room floor. He wished he could see Qui-Gon’s face better.

For some reason his lungs didn’t hurt as much.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and slept.

He woke up being carried.

Qui-Gon was still wearing the space suit, but didn’t have the helmet on anymore. Obi-Wan knew this because he could feel the soft touch of the man’s hair on his forehead. He breathed in, Qui-Gon even smelt good.

The thought was strange enough that Obi-Wan tensed and tried to raise his head.

“Hey, its okay-” Qui-Gon said lowly, “your lungs have been damaged so don’t try to move much. I’m taking you to the medical bay.”

Obi-Wan took the permission to relax, his hands looked blue from where they were tucked against Qui-Gon’s chest. He hated how slow his thoughts were.

“How-” Obi-Wan croaked out, his throat parched and sore. He spoke anyway, “did you get back?”

“I overroad  the lock.” Qui-Gon said dryly. “It was a good thing too, otherwise an idiot would be dead right now.”

“Oh-” Obi-Wan murmured. Qui-Gon felt so warm. Obi-Wan swallowed heavily, suddenly feeling as though he was definitely taking advantage of the situation.

“Um… you can probably put me down.”

A disbelieving laugh came from Qui-Gon, “You can barely lift your head.”

This was unfortunately true.

Obi-Wan fell silent and decided to cherish the physical contact while he had it.

“Your plan did work in the end.” Qui-Gon spoke up as they reached the medical bay. “I didn’t think there would be enough power, but you managed it.” Qui-Gon gently laid Obi-Wan down in the medical pod. “All of the pods are safe, and we have enough time to make permanent repairs now.”

Obi-Wan closed his eyes in relief. There had been a chance, a chance that he would cause yet another pod to die while he tried to save Qui-Gon, he had looked at the odds and decided to take the chance. He didn’t know what he would have done if he had been wrong.

“I just wish you said something, we may have been able to get you into a suit and avoid all this.” Qui-Gon said softly, but Obi-Wan doubted they would have had time.

“Stay still now, I won’t put you to sleep, but I have to close the medical pod so it can start its job.”

Obi-Wan nodded and watched as the transparent lid was closed over him and gas filled the chamber. It hurt at first against his skin, but gradually soothed the aches in his muscles.

Qui-Gon tapped the glass to get his attention, “I need to go and wake up some of the others now that there is time.” His voice was muffled by the pod. “I’ll be right back.”

Obi-Wan felt his chest seize up. He didn’t want to be alone again. He nodded anyway, he’d be fine. He was fine.

The distorted figure moved away and Obi-Wan did his best to ignore the tears burning in his eyes.

“Hey there,” The gas had eventually cleared so Obi-Wan could see the young woman as she entered the room. He stared at her blankly, wanting to sit up and move, but still hampered by the pod. The woman quickly approached the pod and scrolled through the information on the screen.

“I’m Bant, the chief medical officer.  Sounds like you’re quite the hero. Managed to impress Qui-Gon at least, and that’s quite a feat.”

Obi-Wan had no idea how to respond, so he said nothing. “Hmm, you’re a bit quiet.” Bant continued, tone still friendly throughout it all. “I think I can let you out of there if you are ready.”

Obi-Wan nodded hastily, more than ready to be off his back. As soon as the lid opened he started to his feet, but Bant caught him before he could fall. “Hold on, the medical pod can do a lot, but you still need to take it easy- you nearly got yourself killed.”

He didn’t know whether to lean in or flinch away from her touch but in the end managed sit by himself on the pod. “Um, where is Qui-Gon?”

“I’m afraid the Captain has him a bit occupied, they woke up the essential crew to work on the reactor hull and me, of course, to look after you.”

“I don’t need anyone to look after me.” Obi-Wan immediately replied.

“Yes, well, I’m here anyway.” Bant smiled, “I don’t suppose you would fill me in on what happened? I still had a bit of stasis sickness when Qui-Gon debriefed us.”

Obi-Wan’s attention was successfully diverted as he recounted what had happened. Bant in the meanwhile occasionally tested his vitals and muscle strength.

“How long were you out of stasis before waking up Qui-Gon?” Bant asked lightly.

“I think almost a year.” Obi-Wan answered, that wasn’t entirely true, he did know, it had been 351 days exactly.

Bant was silent for a moment, “That must have been very hard.”

A lump was growing in Obi-Wan’s throat, he didn’t want to think about this. He didn’t want to think about going back to it as soon as they finished the repairs. “It was okay.”

Bant studied him closely, “It’s okay if you don’t want to talk about it. We all are very lucky because of you.”

Obi-Wan shrugged, uncomfortable. At least his life had been worth something. “Um… can I get up now?”

Bant didn’t look happy, but nodded. Obi-Wan still didn’t feel perfectly steady but a few paces around the room helped that. “We should go and check on the pods- I did my best to make sure the backup system could handle it, but it's still possible some of them may have been damaged by the switchover.”

Bant looked conflicted, “I don’t know if that’s the best thing for you right now. I can go-”

“I know the system, I can help.” Obi-Wan didn’t want to be alone. “I promise I’ll take it easy.” He tried to reassure the healer.

“Hmm.” She looked at him hard, “Only if you ride in a wheelchair.”

Obi-Wan grimaced, “Is that really necessary?”

“You said you’d take it easy, that is taking it easy.”

Obi-Wan reluctantly agreed, and soon enough they were on there way to each of the Passenger Pod Quadrants. Thankfully, there hadn’t been further damage to any of the pods afterall, but Obi-Wan still showed Bant where each and everyone of the failed pods were, feeling responsible for each one. If he had just noticed sooner maybe no one would have died.

“We’ll hold a funeral for them before going back into stasis.” Bant squeezed his shoulder reassuringly but Obi-Wan flinched away. Maybe they could hold his funeral at the same time. He could even give his own obituary.

Bant pulled away, realizing that her touch wasn’t wanted. “You should probably rest, why don’t I take you back to your cabin?”

“No.” Obi-Wan said more strongly than he meant to. He swallowed heavily. “I’m not tried, can we go see how the others are doing?” It might be nice to meet them even if he wouldn’t know them for long.

“They are busy, Obi-Wan. I don’t think it’s the best idea… But we can go to the Central Hull if you would like. No doubt that’s where they will be taking breaks anyway.”

Obi-Wan agreed readily and they left the stasis pods to continue on in silence.

Once the got to the Central Hull, Bant convinced Obi-Wan to eat with the bait that Qui-Gon would likely get hungry at some point. Qui-Gon didn’t in fact appear, but Quinlan Vos and Aayla Secura both made appearances. They were happy to talk to Obi-Wan about the integrity of the hull and what the plan was going forward. Quinlan was in charge of creating the duristeel plating that would be the permanent fix and it was interesting to discuss the mechanics of doing so in space.

When they left to continue their work, Obi-Wan convinced Bant to let him walk around the common space and continue building his strength. They walked together and occasionally Obi-Wan would point out something he had tinkered with during his time alone. It was easier to talk about it like that- with projects he set and accomplished. Bant proved to be an eager listener until Obi-Wan got tired and finally sat down.

He hadn’t meant to fall asleep but he woke to Qui-Gon’s low voice.

“I’m glad he’s doing alright.”

“He doesn’t want to be left alone at all, which is completely understandable. The more involved he can be, the better, in all honesty.”

“I’ll see what I can do-” Qui-Gon paused, “Looks like someone is awake. How are you feeling?”

Qui-Gon’s blue eyes looked tired, Obi-Wan wondered how long it had been since the man woke up from stasis. “I’m alright, just a little tired.”

“That’s understandable,” Qui-Gon crouched and touched Obi-Wan’s knee. “You’ve been through a lot in the past twenty-four hours. Obi-Wan’s cheeks felt warm.

“Same as you. How are the repairs going?”

A smile grew on Qui-Gon’s face, “They are going well. We have plenty of time now. In fact I stopped by here on my way to my quarters for the night. The Captain finally pushed me out.”

Bant coughed a laugh, much to Qui-Gon’s satisfaction before he turned his attention back to Obi-Wan. “It looks like you need a good night’s sleep as much as I do.”

Obi-Wan tensed. “I just had a nap, I’m probably fine.”

“Hmm…” Qui-Gon shared a look with Bant. “Crew quarters are a bit more compact than passenger cabins. It’s bunks I’m afraid. Bant should probably check on the crew pods since I know you both went through all the passenger units already. If you would like, you can come with me to get some sleep.

Obi-Wan glanced between them, feeling a bit manipulated, but managed to not be annoyed about it. “I guess I am a bit tired.” It was a bit of an understatement. He tried to stand up from the wheelchair but Bant held him down with little effort.

“You can go with Qui-Gon if you stay in your chair. I’ll check on you in the morning to see whether you can skip it tomorrow.” Obi-Wan grimaced but listened, he hadn’t been looking forward to walking the the Command Ring anyway.

“You had better save your strength then-” Qui-Gon said with a smirk, “Bant’s checkups are notorious.”

“They are not,” Bant said with a swat to Qui-Gon’s shoulder. The man only smiled and pushed Obi-Wan’s wheelchair away.

“You’ve made quite the impression on the crew, Quinlan and Aayla at least.” Qui-Gon commented as they moved through the halls.

“It was nice to meet them.” Obi-Wan said politely despite the warmth blooming in his chest. It was disconcerting that even the smallest social interactions meant so much now.

Qui-Gon huffed a laugh, “So what are you going to do now that we’re all going to make it safely to Raxus.”

Obi-Wan blanched, grateful that Qui-Gon couldn’t see his face. “I… I don’t know.”

“Well you have all the time to decide.” Qui-Gon said lightly.

Obi-Wan just felt cold. He would have the time with everyone else back in stasis. He had helped saved the ship, done something with his life, but there was really nothing else left.

When the time came and he was left alone again, Obi-Wan would end it. Living wasn’t worth dying slowly.

He had always known he wouldn’t be able live through it a second time.

Qui-Gon helped Obi-Wan get ready for bed despite Obi-Wan’s initial embarrassment. Whereas Qui-Gon looked like he had been only days from the sun back on earth, Obi-Wan felt pale and drawn, but Qui-Gon didn’t seem to mind. They settled in with Obi-Wan on the bottom bunk, determinedly enjoying the time he had left since making his decision.

“I’ll see you in the morning.” Qui-Gon said from above before ordering the computer to turn off the lights.

Obi-Wan didn’t fall asleep immediately, instead listening as Qui-Gon’s breath gradually slowed.

He wasn’t alone anymore.

__________

Bant cleared Obi-Wan to help with the permanent repairs of the ship which Obi-Wan was thankful for. She checked up on him regularly, but mostly allowed him to do work like the rest of the crew. He continued to stay in Qui-Gon’s cabin and appreciated that despite only twelve or so crew members being awake, he almost never ended up by himself.

He most often found himself working next to Qui-Gon, who would talk to him about the changes he had made to the droids and training programs in preparation for the harsher conditions on Raxus. Sometimes Qui-Gon would ask about what it had been like for him the last year, but that was harder. He didn’t want to think about it, and so they would change the topic talk about what life on Earth had been like. All twelve of the crew members had been original Homestead employees and it was fascinating to discuss both the changes and similarities on earth over the 200 years they had been away.

“So why did you decide to leave again?” It wasn’t as though Earth was nigh uninhabitable anymore.

Qui-Gon looked thoughtful, “I didn’t really have anyone to stay for- the earth I left behind has been gone for a long time and it’s exciting to see new worlds and help start what are essentially new civilizations. And going back afterwards is kind of like traveling through time. You get to see what happens over hundreds of years instead of just decades.”

Obi-Wan looked up, “I think I would like that.”

Qui-Gon’s eyes lit up, “You would be a great crew member- you can think on your feet and can learn quickly.”

Obi-Wan shook his head with a dark smile, “Unless you know something that I don’t there isn’t another crew member pod on this ship.”

The soft smile on Qui-Gon’s face faded. “No, but it's likely that not all the crew will want to make the return journey. I know of at least a couple that were only paying their way with their expertise.”

Obi-Wan stood up, not wanting to talk about it anymore.

“Obi-Wan? What’s wrong.” Qui-Gon grabbed his arm.

He couldn’t stand it anymore. “I’m not going to make it to Raxus so it doesn’t matter.”

“What are you talking about?” Qui-Gon pulled him closer so that they were face to face. Obi-Wan looked down, not willing to meet Qui-Gon’s eyes.

“There aren’t any pods on this ship for me to go back into stasis when the crew finishes up work on the repairs.” He stated the obvious.

A tense moment past between them. Qui-Gon’s grip tightened on his arms.

“You think I’d just leave you alone like that?”

“It’s not like you have a choice, Qui-Gon.” Obi-Wan tried to end the conversation and pull away.

“Like hell I do, I’m sure we can figure out how to make a pod work for you- and even if we can’t I wouldn’t just go back into cryostasis and leave you to live out the rest of your years on your own.”

“I won’t be alone for that long I assure you.” Obi-Wan snapped, not thinking.

Qui-Gon’s grip loosened and his hands fell to his sides. “So that was your plan?” His voice was low and broken, “You were going to wait until everyone left you before what, throwing yourself out an airlock?”

Obi-Wan folded his arms around himself. “I hadn’t planned it that far.”

Qui-Gon’s jaw tightened. “Fuck that.” Qui-Gon grabbed hold on Obi-Wan and marched them to medical bay despite Obi-Wan’s protests.

Bant looked up in surprise when they came through the door.

“Officer Eerin, I’ve been informed that there are no unassigned cryostasis pods on this entire blasted ship.”

Bant’s eyes flickered between them, confusion clear on her face. “That is correct, sir.”

Qui-Gon’s face was furious, “So what is being done to ensure that Kenobi is able to go into stasis along with the rest of the crew once repairs are complete?”

Realization spread on Bants face, “Oh, no-” She stared at Obi-Wan horrified. “We don’t have any cryostasis pods that are capable of putting you in stasis, but that was never the plan.”

Now Obi-Wan was confused, “What do you mean?” He said finally looking Bant in the eyes.

She looked heartbroken, “I should have talked to you about it- I didn’t think that you wouldn’t realize we could use one of the medical pods to put you into stasis along with the rest of us.”

Obi-Wan stared at her disbelievingly, “I checked the medical pods once I gave myself crew security clearance. The most they are capable of is a low-grade coma.”

Bant’s eyes went wide. “That’s not true at all.” She quickly turned and began typing into the closer pod’s displayport.

“See-” She moved the the side to allow Obi-Wan to see the information on the screen. “The pods are only enabled to do so much without an authorized medical personnel, it's too dangerous otherwise, but I can absolutely put you into perfect cryostasis.”

“Oh.” Obi-Wan’s knees went out from underneath him, but Qui-Gon managed to catch him before he collapsed to the ground.

“Why didn’t anyone mention this to him before?” Qui-Gon growled out, frustration clear in his voice as he helped Obi-Wan sit down.

“I don’t- he never mentioned any worry about it.” Bant said appalled.

Qui-Gon shook his head, “Of course not… you thought it was all said and done.” Qui-Gon spoke to Obi-Wan kneeling down next to him.

“I… yes.” Obi-Wan said still in shock. He had thought he had checked every avenue. He hadn’t even known enough to know that he didn’t know.

“I feel so stupid.” Obi-Wan said tremulously.

“It’s not your fault. I should have figured it out from the way you talked about Raxus.” Qui-Gon never took his hands off Obi-Wan, and not for the first time Obi-Wan used the touch to anchor himself to reality.

“So…” Obi-Wan tried to wrap his mind it, “I don’t have to-”

“No.” Qui-Gon said sharply, “You don’t have to be alone anymore.” Their eyes met and both knew exactly what Obi-Wan was letting go of.

Bant eagerly jumped in, “You’ll be able to start a new life on Raxus with everyone else.”

Obi-Wan’s shoulders slumped, he wanted so badly to grab hold of Qui-Gon.

“Or…” Qui-Gon gently touched Obi-Wan’s knee. “You could help us settle Raxus and then come back, with us, with me.”

Obi-Wan reached out to Qui-Gon to return the man’s touch. “With you?” He questioned, never tearing his eyes from Qui-Gon’s.

“If that’s what you want.” Qui-Gon confirmed, gaze intense.

Obi-Wan nodded furiously and fell into Qui-Gon’s shoulder. The other man’s arms wrapped around him and held him close.

He wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

 

____________

 

Epilogue:

 

Raxus was not an easy planet to live on, but the passengers on Avalon had four months to learn how to cope before ever setting foot on the planet. Obi-Wan personally helped debrief the new colonists just what the risks were and how to best survive on their new planet. By the time they arrived, they were ready.

Setting up the new colony took time, ensuring that new crops would be able to flourish and grow as well establishing the pre-made shelters and industries that would make the colony strong.

And despite the extreme whether, Raxus truly was beautiful.

“They’ll do well for themselves, I think.” Qui-Gon said walking up behind Obi-Wan to look at the growing town below.

“They have everything they need to start over.” Obi-Wan agreed. He cast a glance at Qui-Gon.

“Are you having second thoughts?” Qui-Gon asked softly, reaching out to hold Obi-Wan’s hand.

“Not exactly,” Obi-Wan squeezed it. “Just… there’s really nothing for me back on earth. Not anymore.”

It was quiet between them. “Nor for me.” Qui-Gon eventually replied.

“Then why go back?” Obi-Wan turned to face him.

Qui-Gon met his eyes levely, “The crew has always been my family, the only reliable thing in this mad galaxy.”

“Why do they have to go back either? Earth is fine, a dozen ships return every year.”

“It’s what we promised to do.”

Obi-Wan shook his head, “And if this time when you get back humanity has managed to destroy itself?”

Qui-Gon breathed deep, “I pray I will never see that day, but if it is to be, then the Avalon would be able to carry us to another habitable planet. We would have enough resources with us, and the ship would be able to easily refuel.”

“So if I wanted to stay, you would still go.” Obi-Wan closed his eyes, but felt Qui-Gon’s arms wrap around him.

“No. No, I would stay, but I’m not the only one who would be missed.”

A smile crept along the edges of Obi-Wan’s lips. He looked up at Qui-Gon who in turn smiled down at him. “I guess I better pack.”

 


End file.
